Love of nature, love of natural surroundings, love of quietness…
Love of the simplicity of Chinese water colour paintings, with an undemanding heart, it seems like the natural scenery of Guilin, the incessant exchanges between the deep blue tiles and the while walls, appreciated by the blazing sun, forming a simple and pristine beauty of the world, and that is the interchangeable state of mountains and waters.
– Water Poon

A returning artist to Art Beatus, we are pleased to present Water Poon’s latest exhibition, Mountains and Water, a collection of paintings in Chinese ink on paper. As in his last exhibition, Blue and Whiteat Art Beatus (Hong Kong), that consisted of oil paintings of lotuses in blue and white, Poon’s latest collection of work continues his exploration of these two featured colours as he captures the simple and pristine beauty of Guilin in his elegant blue and white landscapes.

According to the artist, educator and writer Arthur Wesley Dow in his book, Composition, he states that:
Painting is a space art. It is concerned with the breaking up of a space into parts which vary in shape, depth of tone and color1... Every work of space art was regarded as primarily an arrangement, with beauty as its raison d’être.2

There is no denying the quiet beauty inherent in Poon’s paintings but what is striking is the awareness of the sense of space when viewing these pieces. This heightened awareness of space comes from both the unusual composition and framing of the images as well as from the paintings themselves placing the viewer within the vast and ambiguous landscape of the paintings. The elements of the mountains and water as well as the sky become blurred and abstracted, their boundaries completely undefined with only the arrangement of the buildings and the sun as points of reference.

Mountains and Water opens on June 12, 2013 and runs until August 9, 2013. Please join us for the opening reception on Wednesday June 12 from 11:30am to 6pm. Water Poon will be in attendance starting from 3:30pm.

Born in Nanhai, China and graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic College in graphic design and Lutheran Vocational Training Center in photography, Water Poon is highly accomplished and multi-talented as an artist, photographer, designer and filmmaker. Poon has done photojournalistic work across Asia, North America and Africa and has held art exhibitions in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Tokyo, USA, and Canada.

For more information, please visit our website at www.artbeatus.com or call the gallery at 1 (604) 688-2633.